Vatican Sells Out Chinese Catacombers

The Holy See has reportedly asked two Chinese bishops to stand aside to make way for illicitly ordained, Chinese government-backed counterparts.

A Vatican delegation asked Bishop Peter Zhuang of Shantou and Bishop Jospeh Guo Xijin of Mindong to retire or accept demotion in order to smooth relations with the Chinese government.

Asia News, the outlet of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions, reports that 88-year-old Bishop Zhuang received a letter dated 26 October asking him to resign to make way for the government-backed Bishop Huang Bingzhang.

Note that fact: Asia News is an official Vatican news agency. This is not idle media speculation. This is coming from inside the Vatican.

Bishop Huang was excommunicated in 2011 after being consecrated without Vatican approval. He is also a member of the National People’s Congress, the Chinese parliament.

Asia News reports that Bishop Zhuang was escorted to Beijing, where he met with Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, former president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, who told him to retire – but with the proviso that he could nominate three priests, one of whom Bishop Huang would appoint as his vicar general.

Sources said Bishop Zhuang burst into tears on hearing the demand, adding that “it was meaningless to appoint a vicar general, who is still a priest that Bishop Huang could remove him anytime.”

“Combining both violent and nonviolent methods, the (Communist) Party’s policies are designed to curb the rapid growth of religious communities and eliminate certain beliefs and practices,” the report said.

Its release comes amid hot speculation over whether the Vatican and Beijing will strike a potentially historic deal on the ordination of Chinese bishops, ending decades of frosty ties.

Such a deal would not be welcomed by Dong and many of his fellow illegal worshipers.

“Jesus said one person cannot serve two gods, now the Vatican is willing to serve God and the Communist Party,” he said.

Plenty of mainlanders worshipping in “catacombs churches” are also opposed to any rapprochement on the government’s terms. “It’s possible that Rome may betray us,” said Fr Dong, a priest in Hebei province, told The Telegraph. “If this happens, I will resign. I won’t join a Church which is controlled by the Communist Party.” Those are strong words, but they are understandable. After all, true reconciliation comes only after repentance. Giving the regime a veto on appointing bishops means that Chinese officials won’t be asked to repent; they will be vindicated.

Back to the 2017 CNN story:

As the situation has worsened for Protestants, relations between the Vatican and Beijing are at their strongest level in years.

Pope Francis has expressed his desire to visit China, and reports last year suggested the two sides were moving closer to a deal on the ordination of bishops, long a sticking point.

Under Xi Jinping, Chinese government is destroying churches left and right these days. Pope Francis could speak out against this persecution. But he doesn’t. In fact, as we now see, he wants Chinese Catholics to prostrate themselves before the communists. Look at this:

Officials in China’s eastern Jiangxi province have replaced religious images displayed by Christian families with portraits of the country’s leader, Xi Jinping, according to reports.

Pictures showing officials removing images of the cross and other religious subjects in Yugan County were uploaded to the social messaging service WeChat account of Huangjinbu town government, according to Ucanews.com.

The message from officials said the Christians involved had “recognised their mistakes and decided not to entrust to Jesus but to the (Communist) Party” claiming the Christians voluntarily removed 624 religious images and posted 453 portraits of Xi, the country’s president and General Secretary of the Communist Party of China.

The officials also claimed they were “converting” Christians to party loyalty through poverty alleviation and other schemes to help the disadvantaged. Nearly 10 percent of Yugan County’s largely impoverished 1 million people is Christian.

Father Andrew, who declined to give his full name for fear of government retribution, told ucanews.com that the removal of the Christian images involved officials giving money to poor households in return for hanging Xi’s portrait.

Father John, in northern China, said he felt Xi had become “another Mao” Zedong following the 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in October. The priest predicted that other officials around the country would imitate what had been done in Jiangxi.

And now, Pope Francis is toasting to friendship with Xi. Cardinal Mindszenty, pray for these poor Catholic catacombers in China.

After the Bolshevik Revolution, the Soviets had control of the Russian Orthodox Church. As far as I know — I welcome correction from those more knowledgeable — the sacraments remained valid because even though the government controlled the appointment of bishops, their consecrations were sacramentally valid. Russian believers, including faithful priests, had to suffer decades of intense persecution, often never knowing which of their priests were secretly loyal to the Bolsheviks above all. (In fact, a Czech Catholic reader of this blog e-mailed me not long ago to talk about how a priest in Prague whom he greatly trusted as a young Catholic there, turned out to have been an informant of the communist regime’s).

It is possible to hold on throughout the persecution. Perhaps the thinking in Rome is that it is better to guarantee the validity of the sacraments throughout the communist time, so that the Catholic Church will still validly be present when communism passes. Remember that Catholic and Orthodox ecclesiology is different from Protestant ecclesiology. Sacraments are valid even if a validly ordained priest is personally corrupt. But without valid sacraments — which require a validly ordained bishop, and a validly consecrated clergy — there is no church, only ecclesial communities.

Maybe what Rome is trying to do is to gamble to keep the Catholic Church alive through the dark communist night. That’s the best spin I can put on it.

This betrayal cannot come as a surprise to anyone, especially to anyone who is trying to become a Catholic. The attraction of Catholicism — and I still want to be a Catholic — is authority. But in practice authority usually degenerates into power. All along the chain of command power is exerted just to show those below that they have the power and you have none. I am told the RCIA is good for your humility; what it is good for the humility of the hierarchy ? The Anglican tradition, from which I am fleeing was often accused of ‘having a pope in very parish’ That I fear is now more typical of the Catholic Church, from the parish priest right up to the Pope. At each level power is asserted not for the good but just to remind people who has the power and who has none. As a candidate you hold none of the cards, the priest hold then all. Despite the fact the RCIA order flatly says that baptized Christians are in no way to be treated as catechumens, that the preparation of baptized Christians is to be pursued on an individual basis according to the background of the individual. Despite the fact that I come from an Anglo-catholic background, taught from the Catholic Catechism, used Bishop Baron’s multi-media, engaged regularly in Eucharistic adoration, said mass everyday, made and heard confessions, I am required to attend RCIA, which is more often than not inaccurate, e.g. the poor dear teaching on Our Lady confused the Mother of God with Mary of Bethany. The priest can give no reason whatsoever why I must attend RCIA. Because that is not the point; the point is to assert his power against those like me who have none. The same is true of The Vatican Diplomatic Corp: why abandon faithful and powerless Chinese bishops? Because they have no power. (I certainly do not equate my problems with these holy men.) Godly authority requires the love of souls, the desire for their salvation and the emptying of one’s self. Certainly this is not impossible anywhere, even in the Catholic Church, but it is not fostered and cultivated in the Catholic Church these days. Plenty of false humility abounds, picture ops but not so much the real thing.

Based on your reasoning, I would expect South Korea also not to be significantly Christian, whereas in reality it’s around 30%, maybe more, depending on whose numbers you believe. Hence my appeal to historical contingency, in particular the role Protestant missionaries, mostly Americans IIUC, in Korea’s cultural #resistance to the Japanese.

@Joel, that’s a great line, and also it probably has some explanatory power. Thanks.

Why does all the Lorraine Boettner crazy come out when the subject of Catholicism comes up? The ignorance some people have of Catholicism and how any of it works is astounding.

As to the subject at hand, the reason it is different than the investiture controversy is that China is no where near the Papal States (Vatican City) and the pope is no longer a world player in politics. Naming bishops in Europe mattered to kings and emperors because those bishops were often prince electors of the Empire or at least had sway over their immediate locale. Thus as secular rulers their appointments were something emperors and kings were very much interested in.

With China, from the first missionaries long ago until today, no bishop or Cardinal is a player in Chinese politics or local rule. They never were prince-bishops or anything of the sort. The Communists don’t want religion to survive, it takes people and their loyalties away from the Party and at the least divides them.

The Vatican was right to condemn Communism and it’s attempts to crush religion not to mention all the martyrs it created in its barbaric attempts. The Catholic Patriotic group is the Party’s way to keep believers under its thumb.

Frankly there is no reason for the Vatican to kowtow to the Party. The underground church is a saint factory, those are true believers and true Catholics. Telling them to get in line with the commie puppet group must be seen as a betrayal by those who sacrificed so much even to the point of death!

The Vatican shouldn’t do anything overt to make their suffering worse but I’d give Beijing the cold shoulder. They can get bent.

“Perhaps the thinking in Rome is that it is better to guarantee the validity of the sacraments throughout the communist time, so that the Catholic Church will still validly be present when communism passes.”

God Bless your innocence.

The Vatican did something very similar in Ireland in the nineteenth century, to get a seminary in Maynooth. The British got lots of loyal – locally educated and monitored – Catholic hierarchy to control their rebellious flocks, and the Hierarchy got to piggy-back on the Empire’s mission to bring the light of civilisation to the benighted tribes, as well as educate capable lower-level civil-servants to administer it.

1. China has been suffering from the loss of faith in a belief system, the loss of values for many years now. Consequently, despite what the CCP is trying to do, ideologically, the country lacks a uniform ideology and belief system. In other words, Chinese society is still very much defined by chaos in values and beliefs. This is an issue that intellectuals in China have been discussing for years now.

2. The CCP may be atheist, but a huge number of Chinese people still believe in various supernatural entities from traditional folk religions. This along with the ideological chaos and turmoil in contemporary China, are the reasons behind Christianity’s appeal in both China proper and the overseas Chinese community (other key reasons include the West being the dominant entity in the modern period and that the churches provide a place for social gathering, networking…etc)

3. Comparing CCP’s ideological control with that of imperial China is somewhat misplaced. For one thing, despite the fact that imperial China did care about orthodoxy, it was unable to extend its power down to the local level. In other words, imperial governments had to rely on local leaders and gentries to help them govern much of the country (we have to remember that imperial China was no modern totalitarian state, it lacked the mechanism to impose direct rule at the local level). What this results in was the existence of diverse belief systems across the empire. The imperial governments did tolerate them due to practical needs, in spite of their potential to subvert state ideology. And yes, religious sects could talk about eschatology and introduce new ideas. The authority generally leave them alone as long as they don’t stir up trouble and create social unrest which will pose a threat to the imperial state.

4. Finally, it is quite interesting to see how both Christianity and Confucianism preach the importance of speak truth to power and yet, both have also often ended up cooperating with existing political authority. Of course, compared to Confucianism, the modern fate of Christianity is less tragic, as it is still somewhat of a force in Western societies, despite the increasing hostility from secular society.

David Allen, I’m sorry you had such a bad experience of RCIA. It sounds as though you were a priest in the Episcopal Church before your conversion to Catholicism? RCIA varies significantly from parish to parish – some programs are good and some terrible. A close friend of mine, a retired Episcopal priest, converted to Catholicism a few years ago. He was not required to go through RCIA, but instead got some private lessons from a priest. As a parish RCIA Director, I’m so sorry to learn of your experience. Like anything else, RCIA can be made an idol with no flexibility, etc.

Bernie asked: “If an illicitly ordained Bishop (I’ll assume he’s been excommunicated) ordains a priest: 1) Aren’t they they both excommunicated? Can the Pope overturn such excommunications for individuals? 2) If excommunicated (or merely illicit) Bishops or priests officiate at the sacraments, are the sacraments valid, e.g., could an illicitly ordained priest validly perform the Consecration of the Eucharist at Mass or officiate at a valid, sacramental Catholic marriage?”

As Benedict XVI wrote, “Other Pastors … have consented to receive episcopal ordination without the pontifical mandate, but have subsequently asked to be received into communion with the Successor of Peter and with their other brothers in the episcopate. The Pope … has granted them the full and legitimate exercise of episcopal jurisdiction.”

He continued, “there are certain Bishops – a very small number of them – who have been ordained without the Pontifical mandate and who have not asked for or have not yet obtained, the necessary legitimation. … Their ordination … is illegitimate but valid, just as priestly ordinations conferred by them are valid, and sacraments administered by such Bishops and priests are likewise valid.”

The Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association is not a Protestant church. They have not undergone a Reformation. They have not adopted the Book of Common Prayer. They have not ordained women. They believe in transsubstantiation and all of the sacraments. They have a valid apostolic succession.

If you ever travel to China, you can safely attend mass at a government-controlled Catholic Church without fearing for your soul.

“Father Andrew, who declined to give his full name for fear of government retribution, told ucanews.com that the removal of the Christian images involved officials giving money to poor households in return for hanging Xi’s portrait.”

That doesn’t sound like people getting chased through the catacombs to me. If people are willing to give up their crucifixes for what, a few pieces of nickel (no silver coins in China) then how sincere was their commitment to begin with?

Observer, thanks so much for your response to my questions. I genuinely want to understand this situation better. Would you please give your thoughts on the following related questions so I can better understand this issue?

1) In this contemplated move, do you think Pope John Paul II would have taken the same route? Did he ever? Or did Benedict?

2) Would this mean that the Pope puts forward a list of candidates for each Bishop position and the Chinese government chooses one, OR does it mean that the Chinese government chooses whom it wants apart from the Pope’s involvement? What if a government-chosen Bishop is not orthodox and preaches non-Catholic teaching and appoints unorthodox priests who teach heresy? Does the Pope agree to give blanket approval of these appointments in this contemplated “China-backed” church? I simply don’t know who would ultimately be exercising authority. Thank you!

“Bishop Zhuang is almost 90 years old. Think about all the communist persecution he has lived through. And now, the Vatican itself is selling him out to the communists.”

Welcome to the reality of the persecuted church. This is why people have been saying to you as the Ben Op book has been in development that you are being a little too rosy in your expectations if you think it’s going to just be the faithful church members going Amish. It is quite a political and emotional battle where you never really know who is safe to turn to or what might be the consequences of even minor actions that shouldn’t bother anyone.

In some respects, Pope Francis isn’t doing anything particularly unusual for popes to do. They usually like to stay on the good side of the authorities everywhere, even very authoritarian governments, and I seem to recall JPII being criticized by someone who went to jail for political/religious reasons in Cuba who was unhappy at how JPII had sort of coddled the leaders. Of course, everyone knows the controversies over Pope Pius and the concordat with the Nazis.

The Catholic Church is a political institution with a political function. They kind of don’t like to buck the status quo, no matter how bad, as conservative institutions perhaps don’t generally. So maybe that’s why it has been okay for Pope Francis to complain about the victims of ISIS from the Middle East to France, because they are guerrillas and not official governments doing the persecution or killing. Still, Xi is quite an aggressive throwback to Mao, and I wouldn’t want to get close to him lest the sink come off on me. Churchmen can also be very, very naive I have found….

“The Catholic Church is a political institution with a political function.”

Mia, I think the Catholic Church is a religious institution with a religious mission. Do you know if there were a “China-backed” Catholic Church, if the government or the Pope would select the bishops and priests? Would they be validly ordained by the Catholic Church, and would their preaching and leadership be in compliance with Catholic teaching or government-sponsored propaganda? Did Pope John Paul II, in his decades of experience, including his underground study in the seminary, ever give in to governments as to his decisions of the appointment of bishops and priests?